A vote to give the governor authority to appoint Port of Houston Authority commissioners drew strong words Tuesday from Houston and Austin.

"It would be nice to have local control, but if the city and the county are not going to practice best practices and good policies to protect Harris County and city residents, then we'll do it up here," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.

He and other members of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission had just voted in Austin to take the appointment power from local officials as part of a set of reforms intended to modernize the 100-year-old Port Authority.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett responded that the proposal "doesn't make sense."

"I think this caught a lot of people by surprise," Emmett said. "I mean, you have people who claim to be conservative Republicans suddenly proposing taking away local control of a port."

Emmett described the port as the area's largest economic engine and said he might support such a shift if it were part of a strategy to bring management of all Texas ports under one umbrella focused on "making them more competitive globally."

Mayor Annise Parker said the port, as a local organization with local taxing authority, "should be governed locally, not in Austin. The port's new director has recognized the need for change and is already working to put in place more efficient and effective operations. Let's give him a chance to fully implement this new vision."

After a five-month review earlier this year, the Sunset staff had recommended only one gubernatorial appointee.

Just ahead of Tuesday's vote, the Sunset Commission chairman, state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, introduced a modification calling for a complete sweep of the board next year with current port commissioners' terms to expire Sept. 1.

They would not be eligible for reappointment; thus, if the recommendation is adopted by the Legislature next year, it would mean an all-new Port Authority board.

Currently, six port commissioners are appointed by Harris County, the city of Houston, the city of Pasadena or the Harris County Mayors & Councils Association and the chair is a joint appointment of Houston and Harris County.

Bonnen's modification, which he said was modeled after the Port of New Orleans, would let the governor make five appointments from a list provided by the Houston-Galveston Area Council of candidates who live in its 13-county service region and two appointments who live outside the region.

All appointments would be subject to Senate confirmation.

Commissioners would serve no more than three, four-year terms. The governor would also designate the board chair.

Bonnen said the change would bring broader perspective and control to an entity that has a huge economic impact on the state, while maintaining a local emphasis via H-GAC.

Whitmire, who submitted his own modification calling for the authority to undergo Sunset review again in 2017, called support for Bonnen's measure "an expression of our frustration" with the authority board and the failure of the current structure.

He said the changes have broad, bipartisan support among the Houston delegation and the entire Legislature.

Last year, the senator authored the amendment calling for the Sunset review of the authority after allegations of mismanagement, overspending and conflicts of interest prompted calls for reform from local officials.

On Tuesday, Whitmire noted that the city and county have failed to agree on a new chairman since Jim Edmonds' term expired in June and that port commissioner Steve Phelps has been serving an expired term since 2009.

The recommendations will be put in bill form in both houses of the Legislature next year.

The port authority is not a state agency, but it was created by the Legislature. Though it is funded largely by fees from shipping companies, it pays for capital projects with bonds backed by a Harris County property tax.

At least one Houston City Council member voiced opposition.

"This is a negation of local control," Councilwoman Melissa Noriega said. "As a regional economic engine, it's crucial that the leadership of the Port have an understanding of the region."